A Short History of the Winter Olympic Games
by Cap10
Summary: The competition is the peak of snow and ice sports, but it didn't start out that way. From its rocky beginnings to the soaring modern events, after learning about the history of this event you will never look at the winter games in the same way...
1. Winter Olympic Games I-France

_**Author's Note**__-So I was debating on whether or not to post this in my BWIBE series or as a standalone. By the time I got halfway through it was clear that this was a standalone series. As the whole thing is basically already written, I will be post one or two game summaries a day. I hopefully you will enjoy it. _

_**Disclaimer**__- I do not own Hetalia nor do I have any ownership over the Olympics._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Game I-<strong>__Chamonix, France_

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><p>The modern Olympic Games had existed for nearly 25 years and they were rapidly becoming an international success story…still, even though the Olympics had a wide variety of sport, not all countries were happy. Several countries (the Nordics and Russia in particular) had complained that their preferred sports were not represented in the games.<p>

The lack of winter sports always made sense in Frances mind, after all the Olympics were patterned after the ancient games once held in Greece and these historic games had all been held in the summer. Then there was the fact that not every country had snow. It wouldn't be fair to host a sporting event if every country didn't have an equal opportunity to train.

Then London hosted the Olympics and Frances views on winter sport suddenly changed. England had gone out of his way to provide a spectacular ice rink where athletes from across the north could showcase ice-skating events. The world had been fascinated by the people who danced on ice.

After seeing such beautiful and passionate performances, France decided that maybe his fellow nations to the north deserved to have a chance to show off their skills in their own element. Well, the only way to figure out if an international winter sports competition would work would be to host one.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- When the Olympics were first proposed, figure skating was one of the first countries sports suggested. It took 15 years, but the sport was finally added to the Olympic Games in London. The sport proved to be so popular that hockey was added for the Olympics in Antwerp. When the Winter Olympics first began the fact that hockey and figure skating were also part of the Summer Olympics meant that many of the athletes ended up competing twice in the same year for gold. _

_**End Note**__- So, what do you think about this story idea?_


	2. Winter Olympic Games II-Switzerland

**_Author's Note-_**_ Hey time for the summary of the second Winter Olympics, but before we do that a quick shout out to last chapter's reviewer. Thanks kshima91, you rock!_

**_Disclaimer-_**_I do not own Hetalia nor do I own the Winter Olympics._

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><p><strong><em>Winter Olympic Game II -<em>**_ St. Mortiz, Switzerland_

It would be the first true Winter Olympic Games, and Switzerland had done his very best to make sure that the representatives from all 24 competing countries felt comfortable. He wanted to prove his nations strength and ability to dominate the mountain peaks by hosting a perfect competition. Mother Nature had some other ideas.

The trouble began with the opening ceremonies when the entire town had been engulfed by a blizzard. It was not ideal weather, but everyone agreed that the storm at least would mean that there would be a good snowpack for the competition. Then the temperature had changed. Almost overnight the Swiss Alps climbed from a chilly -10 degrees C to balmy 27 degrees.

Suddenly, the carefully planned ski and bobsled runs turned to slush and the ice rink began to turn back into a pond. By the end of the week things were getting so bad that he had even had to cancel one of the speed skating events because the ice wasn't stable enough to support the athletes. Then to add insult to injury, the Swiss team had failed spectacularly. At the winter games in France his team had come away with several metals including a gold. Now, in Switzerland, when his people should have had the home field advantage they had barely earned a bronze. He wasn't sure how his pride was going to survive his nation's performance.

"Don't worry big brother." Liechtenstein patted his shoulder clearly trying to comfort him. "You will do better next time."

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><p><strong><em>Historical Note<em>**_- Twelve countries have competed in every Winter Olympic Games (Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States). Half of those countries have medaled at every Winter Olympics (Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States) but only one nation has won a gold at every game, the United States._

**_End Note-_**_ Hopefully the weather is cooperating wherever you are at. _


	3. Winter Olympic Games III-America

_**Author's Note**__-Hi, time to spotlight another Olympics, but before we get to that a quick shout out to the last chapter's reviewer, ShatteredIceDream._

_**Disclaimer**__- I do not own Hetalia nor do I own the Winter Olympics._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games III -<strong>__ Lake Placid, United States of America_

The Great Depression had hit the world hard, but nowhere were the effects more severely seen than in North America. Still, the fact that the continent was struggling didn't mean that United States wasn't going to be a gracious host for the Olympics, it just meant that there would be significantly less fanfare than there had been at Switzerland or France. Luckily, his job was made easier by the fact eight previously competing countries decided not to field Olympic teams and no new countries joined the competition this year.

At the closing ceremony America had to admit that hosting the games had been a wise decision. Yes, it had been expensive. Yes, it had been difficult. But when he saw the gleam in Canada's eyes when his hockey team trashed everyone else, or when the normally stoic Norway cracked a smile when his countrymen dominated the skiing events, America couldn't help but swell with pride. In the dark days of this economic depression, these Olympic Games had brought hope to the entire world. And when his national anthem played six times to celebrate six gold medals that would be staying in the U.S, America knew that the third Winter Olympic Games were worth every penny he had spent to host them.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- Due to the Great Depression the Lake Placid Winter Olympic was the least expensive Olympics ever held. Currently Sochi is the most expensive Winter Olympics ever. The 2014 Games has cost more than all the pervious winter games put together. _

_**End Note**__-Even though it was difficult to find information about this particular Olympics I really enjoyed reading about it. In many ways it was one of the purest winter games, due to the world's economic condition instead of focusing on the fanfare the world celebrated hope and the human spirit. _


	4. Winter Olympic Games IV-Germany

_**Author's Note-**__ Okay, first things first I need to acknowledge the fact that this particular Olympic game summary may make some people uncomfortable. That is alright, the topic also makes me a bit squeamish as well, but the fact that the Olympics have been used as a political tool is just as much a reality as the fact it has also been used as a tool for peace and international understanding. Now that that depressing topic has been brought up, let's move to something happier. Thank you to Kshima91 and Guest for writing lovely reviews for the last chapter. I am so glad you are enjoying the series so far. _

_**Disclaimer**__-I don't own Hetalia or the Olympics. Nor do I condone the actions of the Third Reich._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympics Games IV –<strong>__ Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany_

Power.

It was the only reason that Germany had agreed to host the Winter Olympic Games. In reality, what he had really wanted was the Summer Olympics and the international attention that it garnered, but his nation was finding ways to dominate the Winter Games as well.

Perhaps his most successful method of showing his superiority was introducing a new sport. The German's swept the alpine skiing event, taking the Gold and Silver places in both the men's and women's events. The French and Norwegian took a distant third, but it was not enough for the Germans to be the best at one thing. Not when so many of the other Olympic events could be used to improve a nation's military.

He really didn't care about whom won hockey because it had nothing to do with the real world and only had a mild interest in skating and that was only because it had so captured the international imagination. But the snow sports, on the other hand, had Germany on edge the entire games. He couldn't help but watch the way that the Norwegians dominated the cross-country courses with envy and the Finn's deadly accuracy with the rifle with some level of terror. It took all of his self control not to hate them.

Germany could try to forgive the Nordic countries for being superior to him in so many of the winter sports that really mattered. After all, they looked so much like himself, they too were so close to the human ideal…Then, maybe they couldn't be forgiven. Perhaps the Nordics were too tainted by fallen peoples to be saved. Perhaps they would need to be subjugated, to be destroyed.

As Germany fought for supremacy of Europe's snow didn't fully know what actions would be taken next, but he did know that this Winter Olympics was a showing the world that he was physically, culturally, and biologically better than the rest of the world. One way or another, the rest would fall to the Third Reich. Sooner or later they would purge by fire and become part of the Germany Empire.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ In addition to the fourth Winter Olympic Games being considered the first political Winter Olympics, it was also the first time Canada didn't win gold in hockey. Up until this point Canada had taken the top prize in hockey whenever the sport was played at a Summer or Winter Olympics, so it was a major upset when England's team beat the historic favorite with a surprise goal in the last 90 seconds of the final game. _

_**End Note-**__ I don't know about you, but this chapter kind of creeped me out._


	5. 1940 and 1944 Winter Olympic Games

_**Author's Note**__-Hey everyone, I know I haven't posted for a few days. I am a student and there was chaos at the lab I work and do my research out. We had a major piece of equipment go down and let's just say I have practically lived in one room for nearly a week trying to get it fixed. For now everything seems to be running smoothly, but my sleep schedule has totally been messed up. _

_Okay, on another note, I know that the last chapter was a rough one (believe me if you thought that was intense read the news articles from the period) and so I wasn't expecting anyone to review, but kshima91 was really, really awesome and did. So thank from the bottom of my heart, your simple review meant a lot. _

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia…or the Winter Olympic Games…or WWII_

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><p><em><strong>1940 Winter Olympic Games –<strong>__ Sapporo, Japan_

There were very few things that could halt an Olympic game in its tracks…the outbreak of a war was one of those things. On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China, an act which caused the country to practically forfeit the right to hold an Olympic Game.

The International Olympic Committee tried to find a new host city in short notice, but their prime choice; Switzerland was still too embarrassed about the first try to host the Winter Olympics to even attempt to try again. They asked France and America, but both nations were overwhelmed by their weak economies. In the end, the only nation that would volunteer to host was Germany.

Even though most of Europe had expressed concerns about the strong nationalistic nature of the Germany Olympics, they had little choice but followed the International Olympic Committees decree that Germany would host to Winter Games in a row. The prepared for those winter games…right up until September 1st, 1939 when the Third Reich invaded Poland and a second continent was plunged into war.

Now as February comes as Japan sips his tea and formulates war plans he has at least one comfort. He now knows that even though he will not have the opportunity the host the fifth Winter Olympic Games, no one else is going to get to either…

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><p><em><strong>1944 Winter Olympic Games –<strong>__ Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy _

When Northern Italy went to sleep he dreamed of a world where his Alps were filled with cheering people participating in the Winter Olympics. His people would be united, his people would be happy, his people could celebrated in well lit country homes filled with the warm smells and flavors of rich midwinter foods.

But Italy knew that when he woke his Olympic dreams would once again be shattered by the harshness of reality. The rising sun would bring no cheering crowds but the bark of machine guns fired at fox holes. The hope of happiness would be was destroyed by the reality of a divided nation. And the scenes of warm homes and full tables were displaced by gnawing starvation of war.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- The numbers associated with the Winter and Summer Olympics are calculated differently. The numbers of the Summer Olympics are based on a four year cycle. As a result every four year period is assigned a roman number regardless of whether or not an Olympic Game is held for that cycle. On the other hand, the Winter Olympics are only given a number if they take place. As a result the 1940 and 1944 Winter Olympics are labeled as such. _

_**End Note**__-So I know that this chapter is a downer, but I promise that that future chapters are going to be more positive. _


	6. Winter Olympic Games V-Switzerland

_**Author's Note**__-Hey everyone, WWII has finally ended and things are starting to look up in Europe so the next chapters will have some happier moments to them. Also, wow the last chapter was pretty popular. Thanks to kshima91, Allison, and two guests for leaving reviews. I am so glad you are enjoying this collection of history so far. _

_**Disclaimer**__- I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympic Games._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games V-<strong>__ St. Mortiz, Switzerland_

The world was calling them 'The Game of Renewal', but to Switzerland that view point seemed rather optimistic. The mighty games were being held in the patched up outdoor venues from the second Winter Olympics, because there was no funds to build new structures and most of the countries in Europe could not afford to send their athletes to North America to hold the Olympics at the Lake Placid complex. In fact most of the countries were so poor at the moment that they were sending their athletes with little or no equipment.

That is where the North American's came to play. While America and Canada were both taking on the monumental task of rebuilding the Europe, the young nations also seemed to understand how important these Winter Games were to a world scared by war. So a country didn't have the funds to send its athletes to the games, that didn't matter, the U.S. would arrange to get them there via military transport. If a country wasn't able to send a team of reporters or spectators to cheer their athletes home, than U.S. and Canadian broadcast teams would be sure to collect the sound and video clips so that those nations had the opportunity to cheer their countryman from home. And when the Norwegians won the skiing events on boots and skis borrowed from the U.S. team, America had been right by the side of the broken Scandinavian making sure that he would be able to witness his countrymen take the gold.

The North America's efforts were really starting to pay off. It didn't matter that German and Japanese teams were banned from competing or that the Soviet Union was throwing a hissy fit. What really mattered was that a group of countries that had just spent five years of being bombed, starving, and all around fighting for their existence finally had the opportunity to shine.

As the world cheered, Switzerland realized that while he might not view the fifth Winter Olympic Game as one of renewal that might be because they were so much more important than that. It was an opportunity to watch as the nations of the world leaned on each other so that they could compete, and he believed that the exampled that winter games provided could give everyone hope that the world could someday live in peace.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- So this Olympics had one of the oddest incidences ever to happen to a U.S. Olympic team…two hockey teams showed up claiming to be the official U.S. team. After trying to figure out which team was the real one and failing the IOC disqualified both of them and as a result the U.S. did not compete in that event that year. _

_**End Note**__- So, did you learn something new?_


	7. Winter Olympic Games VI-Norway

_**Author's Note-**__Hey everyone, new day, new chapter. I hope that you will enjoy it. Also a huge shout out to mofalle for reviewing the previous chapter. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, nor do I own the Winter Olympic Games._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games VI<strong>__ – Oslo, Norway_

How do you trust someone who tried to destroy you? How can you allow a nation which bombed you, that terrorized you, and that murdered hundreds of your citizens into your house again? It was a question that Norway was unsure how to answer and it was the biggest reason the country wondered if he would be able to successfully host the Winter Games. To be honest, it was a question the whole world was struggling with, but sooner or later Germany and Japan were going to have to be invited back into the world stage and some bandages were best torn off quickly.

In addition to hosting the aggressors of WWII, America and Canada were proving to be a handful. They approached the Olympic sports with such violence that everyone else couldn't keep but shake their heads in annoyance. It wasn't that they were technically doing anything wrong, but did they really need to use that much force? The answer was no, but still Norway could try to understand their point of view. While the twin nation's territories had been raided and pillaged, their own countries, their homes and children, had been spared the evil of WWII. As a result, the European nations suspected that the North American's taste for blood had not been dulled as much as they had on the Eurasian continent.

But regardless of the struggles of hosting, Norway had quickly grown to cherish these games because it united Scandinavia. It didn't matter that Norway and Finland had fought on opposites during WWII or that Demark had been occupied by the German's while Iceland had been by the U.S. At the sixth Olympic Winter Games, all of Scandinavia was a family and they were determined to show the world who was truly the best people on skis.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- When you read the news reports from this Olympic Games the thing that came up over and over was the fact that the North American's were so violent when competing on the ice and tried to figure out why the U.S. and Canadian teams were so uncivilized. These reports mainly were due to body checking during hockey games, which was legal but rarely used by European teams. _

_If you are a hockey scholar you will realize that this is a major splitting point the North American version of hockey and the hockey played in the rest of the world. Today, the North American version is still much more of a contact sport, while in the rest of the world is a lot more reserved. To try to even the playing field, the Olympic hockey rules more closely resemble the European style of play. _

_**End Note**__- Ah, Scandinavian family, always such fun to write. _


	8. Winter Olympic Games VII-Italy

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone. I will keep today's author's notes short but I wanted give a quick shout out to Oribes and The Secret trio for reviewing before heading into the story itself. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia nor the Winter Olympic Games._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympics Games VII<strong>__ – Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy_

Italy had dreamt of these games for decades. In a way the hope of something better had kept him sane though the darkness of WWII and now that the world was being swallowed by a new war, a cold war, Italy hoped that his Olympics could shine a light into a fractured world. So he told the responsibility of hosting this Winter Olympics even more seriously then he might have otherwise…Well, Italy took hosting the seven Winter Olympic Games as seriously as Italy could have been expected to do, which meant in reality he hosted the biggest party possible.

When Italy had started planning his massive party he quickly discovered that there was no way that his national government was going to be able to afford everything. It was still too weak from the terrors of the Second Great War, but he didn't give up. He had promised the world that Italy would host the best games better and he was determined to not let any of his fellow nations down.

In the end, he came up with a solution so simple he was shocked that no other nation had come up with it before. He asked his nation's businesses to donate money for hosting the Olympics, in exchange they could make special Olympic things. There was no end to special things that could be made for the Olympics, for example one could make cars, or food, or clothing. Soon everyone in northern Italy wanted to make things for the Olympics and so they donated money to make the Olympics happen. Soon Italy not only had enough money to host the Winter Olympic Games themselves, but to help the games to be filmed so that the entire world could watch the competition on their own TVs.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ While the Germans are viewed as the people who politicized the Olympics and the Russians were the ones who professionalized them, it was clearly the Italians who commercialized them. They were the first nation to use sponsorships to heavily subsidize the Olympic Games and it is a tradition that has been maintained at some level through all following Winter Olympics. _

_**End Note-**__ Happy Italy!_


	9. Winter Olympic Games VIII-America

_**Author's Note**__- Hey everyone, today we are going to be looking at one of the most under appreciated winter games ever. I know a lot of you readers wanted to hear about the 1980 Miracle on Ice, well today you get to learn about the first one. But before we get to that thanks so much to Michigan, Guest, and the Secret Trio. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia nor do I own the Olympics._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games VIII<strong>__ – Squaw Valley, United States_

Italy may have figured out how to televise the Olympic Games, but America was determined to make those broadcasts awesome. This goal started with the venue itself. It was designed to be intimate with almost every location within comfortable walking distance. As a result the spectators, journalists, and athletes were encouraged to bump shoulders with each other and interact. It was true that a few countries, primarily the Europeans didn't like the set up. The Germans were mad that there wasn't going to be any bobsledding events, and the Austrians felt that the high altitude would be bad for the athletes, but overall everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Then there was the planned spectacle. From the opening and closing ceremonies that had been produced by Disney to an actual mechanical computer that could calculate the final results far faster than the human computers of old could ever hope to, the Squaw Valley games were designed to keep the world on the edge of their seats. And if the view ship numbers were any indication, America totally succeeded.

When people weren't busy enjoying the various competitions and performances they had a chance to discuss the international drama of the day, primarily the Cold War. America knew who was clearly in the right (himself of course because he was totally the hero), but he wasn't going to be able to convince the communist countries, like Russia, Ukraine, or even China if they didn't have the chance to talk openly about the subject. Yes he knew that he had made a lot of them mad because had threatened to block the East German team from entering the U.S. to compete in the Olympics, but that was only because they were planning on making the IOC block Taiwan from participating. In the end the IOC said it would take away his Olympics if America didn't let the Commie Germans in, but he had at least forced China to acknowledge that Taiwan existed so he still tallied that argument under a win for freedom.

Lastly, of course there was the drama on the ice. Even a major movie company couldn't have scripted it better. There were the old power houses, Canada the nearly undefeated champion and Sweden the terror of the ice, both nations considered shoe ins for the final round. There was the up and coming new comer, the Soviet Union, determined to take gold in every event. Then there was the underdog, the Americans. When the tournament started no one believed that the country had a chance, and so by the time they faced Canada in the medal match the world was cheering the U.S. to its first ever victory in the hockey.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- Okay, I know that many of you reviewers have expressed interest in the 'Miracle of Ice' game of 1980, but if you watch the movie you will realize that the U.S. hockey team had taken gold once before. The win at the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley was in many ways just as impressive achievement. Going into this Olympics the U.S. team wasn't even expected to metal because the Soviet, Canadian, Czechoslovakian, and Swedish teams were all rank higher than them on the international stage. Regardless of that the underdog American's powered through the competition to not only metal but take gold. Now this great Olympic hockey team has been almost completely overshadowed by the second, and only other team to take Olympic gold, but now you know never to forget the 'Forgotten Miracle' of 1960. _

_**End Note-**__ If nothing else American's know how to produce drama. _


	10. Winter Olympic Games IX-Austria

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone. I feel that it is kind of appropriate that this particular Olympics' post fell on a Sunday. It is not a particularly happy one but still has a beautiful moral. But before we get to that a quick shout out to Michigan, Daffodil Moon, and The Secret Trio for all leaving lovely reviews for the very happy America chapter._

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia or the Olympics, or a bobsled. I do happen to own a very nice pair of figure skates though._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games IX<strong>__ – Innsbruck, Austria_

Somber. It was the best way that Austria could describe this Winter Olympic Games. Even before they began they had already been marked by tragedy. Before they started they were marked with death.

All 18 members of the U.S. Figure Skating team had been killed in 1961 when their plane burst into flame and plowed into a farmers feel in Belgium. The event had been so traumatic that to the sport that the World Championship that the team had immediately been canceled. Even though three years had passed since the accident, America's skating had not had a chance rebuild. The few athletes that America had been able to field were young and untried, mere shadows of the great athletes whose they had been called to replace far too soon. Even though three years had passed, you could almost sense the ghosts of all those lost Olympians dancing across the ice whenever the night was quiet and the rink was dark.

It would be difficult for any Olympics to compensate for such a massive loss of athletes, but then things had gotten worse. Two athletes had died in training accidents only days prior to the Opening ceremony. On 23 of January a British athlete and pilot in the Royal Air Force died when he lost control during a training run for the first ever luge competition at the Olympics. Two days later, an Australian smashed into a tree on a downhill ski run. He died from severe head injuries he sustained during the crash one day later. The shadow of those first deaths at the Winter Olympics themselves would only further darken the already stormy mood of the games.

Still despite the darkness that surrounded this Olympics, people still found reasons to smile.

When the British 2 man bobsled team realized that a bolt on their bobsled had broken it was a member of the Italian team who lent them a bolt off of their own sled. And when the Canadian four man team discovered that their sled's axle was too damaged to compete with, the same Italians once again came to the rescue bringing the expertise to repair the sled. As a result of their sportsmanship the Italians ended up taking bronze while the Brits and Canadians took gold, but for their act of selflessness for the sake of sport they took home something rarer than gold ever could be…The Pierre de Coubertin Medal for extraordinary Olympic Spirit. It was the first time this metal had ever been awarded during the Winter Olympics.

Then there was the event that made everyone smile through the tears. During the males singles a fourteen year old American took to the ice and skated his heart out. Two days before his fifteenth birthday that boy took his place as the winner of the bronze on the metal podium. At that moment it didn't matter that the German anthem was playing. The youngest medaling Olympic athlete had captured the world's heart.

Hosting the ninth Winter Olympic had been rough, but by the games ended Austria had learned a cherished lesson…While life may end far too soon, the Olympic spirit never dies.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- A lack of snow at the Winter Olympics seems to be one of the most common disasters to hit these events. The Austrians came up with a particularly unique solution they called in the army which then carried 20,000 bricks of ice and 40,000 cubic meters of snow which the army used to line the courses. Apparently they padded everything down by hand which made the ride almost flawless and apparently made it particularly fast. _

_**End Note-**__ This Olympics always make me a little sad. _


	11. Winter Olympic Games X-France

_**Author's Note**__- Hi. I will make today's note quick. Thank you to Michigan, Daffodil Moon, The secret trio, and Oribes for reviewing. You guys made my day. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia, nor the Winter Olympic Games._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games X<strong>__ – Grenoble, France_

The Winter Olympics graced the world in bold dynamic color and the whole world was held in rapt attention, much to Frances delight. There was something for everyone…even a mascot for the very first time. The fabled Italian who had helped the British and Canadian teams win gold by helping to fix their bobsled in Austria, slid to victory not only leading his team to gold in the two-man competition, but the four-man bobsled runs as well. The French were enamored by their hansom triple gold winning downhill skiing Olympian, while the Soviets preened about their pair ice skating couple. Even the North American's had a competitor to capture their imagination, a young female ice skater who dominated the women's skating competition bringing the once broken U.S. skate team into a new renaissance of competition.

Strangely enough it would be the skiers and the skaters who would make biggest impact his year. This was because the inspired a demographic that was rarely encouraged to explore sport, young women. The moment the closing ceremonies ended thousands of teen girls across the world traded dreams of horseback riding for dreams of skiing lessons, and their high heels dress shoes for ice skates.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ Almost every event at this Olympics went off without a hitch…with one big exception. It turns out the bobsled track wasn't properly cooled so the track would melt whenever the sun was up. To combat the problem the bobsled events were all held right around dawn and dusk. _

_**End Note**__-So have you ever wanted to take up ice skating after watching the Winter Games?_


	12. Winter Olympic Games XI-Japan

_**Author's Note**__- Okay, it is official, this was the most difficult Olympic Game for me to research because almost all of the information about the details was written in Japanese. As I can only read five words in Japanese, so this chapter will mainly be about the greater debate that surrounding this particular Olympics. Also thanks to Michigan, Daffodil Moon, Guest, and The secret trio for leaving lovely reviews._

_**Disclaimer**__- I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympic Games._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XI – <strong>__Sapporo, Japan_

It was official. Japan was starting to loath the IOC. While it was true he didn't particularly like the Soviet Union and their approach to sport he loathed the IOC for putting his country in such an awkward position. The Soviets and their puppet government in East Germany were dominating the metal count and everyone knew how they were doing it.

Officially, all competitors at the Olympics were required to be amateurs. People had been disqualified over competing in the games over this; people had been stripped of their medals because someone found out that they had been paid at some point in their sporting career. A lot of countries were starting to dislike the amateur only rule, but followed the IOC's decision. Everyone except the communist…They found a loophole instead.

On paper the Soviet athletes looked like any other amateur, with one major exception. Every single one of the communist athletes all worked for the military and everyone knew that their military appointments was a cover to, say play hockey full time. It was a mockery of everything that the Olympic Games stood for but the IOC wasn't going to fight them so everyone was blaming the Olympic host.

To be honest, Japan was kind of getting tired of everyone's whining. As long as there were rules less than honorable countries would try to find their way around them. It was a sad fact of the world they lived in. In the mean time Japan was going to do his very best to remain remarkably composed and make sure to be an impeccable host, because he absolutely refused to let the Soviet Union see him sweat over this.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- The Japanese games was officially the last time the world competed almost exclusively on wooden skis. At every game that followed, lighter fiberglass and composite skis have been preferred. Still, regardless of what skis have been used the Norwegians always seem to dominate. _

_**End Note-**__ Now I want to go eat sushi. Anyone want to join me? lol_


	13. Winter Olympic Games XII-Austria

_**Author's Note- **__Okay, first Michigan please don't get mad at me for not writing a separate post for the Denver games. I tried by couldn't figure out how to detangle its legacy form the Innsbruck, Lake Placid, and Salt Lake games and failed miserably at that, but I have heavily addressed it. After going through a large stack of CIA documents about the subject it was difficult not to heavily address it because it was a major Cold War diplomatic incident. Now that that has been taken care of thank you so much to Michigan, Daffodil Moon, and The secret trio for being awesome and reviewing._

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia nor do I own the Winter Olympics._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XII<strong>__ – Innsbruck, Austria_

It was a well known fact that the Olympics were incredibly expensive things to host. It was also known that many of the host countries would never see a full return on their investment; still many of the world's countries felt strongly that it was their duty to host the Olympics as a gift to the world. So when America basically dropped the twelfth Olympic Games back into the International Olympic Committee, the IOC's lap with little time for them to find a replacement the world had been shocked.

On one hand, Austria could kind of understand what had happened. He could pity America for the situation that the young nation had gotten himself into. He was, after all a chimera of a country. From the outside the United States was a strong united superpower, but from the inside the federal government was in a constant battle of wills with the fifty states the nation contained.

In many ways what the State of Colorado had done the rest of its nation and the world as a whole was nearly inexcusable. Instead of realizing that they couldn't afford the host the games before the agreed to take on the challenge, they had decided halfway through the process that they were not going to foot the bill and tried to dump it on the country as a whole. With the space race and the Vietnam War currently in progress there was no way that America was going to be able to take on the full weight of the Denver Games with such short notice. Ashamed America had to return the rights to the twelfth Olympics to the IOC.

Chaos then ensued. It was true that the Winter Olympics had been returned to the IOC twice before, once by Japan and once by Italy, but in both those cases that was due to war. In the end the IOC really hadn't needed to find a replacement because both games had been canceled because of WWII. No one had ever returned a game during peace time. Now the Olympic Committee was even starting to wonder if America might repeat it actions later and briefly considered rejecting America's right to nominate Lake Placid to host the thirteenth Winter Olympics.

In the end America was allowed continue to nominate Lake Placid for the 1980 Olympics because it was one of only two bids, but when Salt Lake City, the capital of Colorado's neighboring state offered itself as an alternative it was quickly shot down. The IOC asked Canada, one of the runners up if they might like to take on the twelfth Winter Olympics on but British Columbia doubted that they would complete the preparations in time. Especially seeing the region had recently had a major election.

With time running low, the IOC had no other choice by to try to find an existing Olympic city which had passable facilities. Again this proved to be a challenge. They could use Switzerland's infrastructure but it was all outdoors and was pretty small for the size that the Olympics had become in recent years. They could also use Austria or Japan as both had taken care of their Olympic facilities. Everyone else had pretty much allowed their Olympic Parks to crumble. The IOC really didn't want ask the same city to bear the cost of and disruption two Winter Olympics in a row, so the twelfth Winter Game had landed in Austria's lap.

Austria was actually looking forward for the chance to rewrite his Olympic history. He wanted a chance to host an Olympics that was full of light, unfortunately that a joyous Olympics in Austria was never meant to be. Once again the winter games would be haunted by Olympians who past far before their time. This time it would be the presence of 11 Israeli athletes murdered as an act of terrorism four years earlier at the summer games that would cast the shadow.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ In many ways the 1976 Austrian Winter Games were fairly typical of the Cold War Era games. They were dominated by the Soviet Union and East German dominating the metal count. This was partially due to their system of allowing their athletes to train as professionals while masquerading as amateurs, but it was also due to the complex doping system that the two nations had put into place. Still, other nations did medal due to the amazing dedication and talent of some of their athletes. By this time most of the media coverage was starting to focus their attention on these national stars instead of the overall metal count. _

_**End Note-**__ Sorry for another downer, but honestly this historical context makes the next Olympics even more amazing. _


	14. Winter Olympic Games XIII-America

_**Author's Note**__-Out of all the Olympic Winter Games, it appears that it is the 1980 Lake Placid one that has captured many of your attention. Hopefully this short will do this powerful moment in history justice. But before we get to the Miracle on Ice, a quick shout out to the amazing reviewers. A special thanks to Daffodil Moon, The secret trio, and Guest. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia nor the Olympics, but I love watching hockey._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XIII<strong>__ – Lake Placid, United States _

Redemption.

There were few things that America craved more, but he knew that earning Olympic redemption was going to be an uphill battle. To be honest, when the games began even America began to doubt that he had the strength to fully overcome all the black marks against his name. But even though the deck was stacked against him…even though he knew that if he failed at hosting these Olympics the IOC would probably never allow him to host a Winter Olympics again, America determined not to give up. He was the Hero and heroes go down fighting.

The first uphill battle he had to fight was proving that the United States was still capable of hosting the Thirteenth Winter Games. After the Denver fiasco, the communist bloc had smirked that the desiccant west wasn't too weak willed to keep their promises. America had had to put up with Russia and his cronies taunting him about his failure at every opportunity for six long years. Now he had one opportunity to throw a party so big, so spectacular that they would have to shut their mouths up.

His second battle was to prove that America was still a contender in international sport. The west was getting sick and tired of losing to the communist over and over again. Yes, every once in a while a civilized, free country would get a chance to shine but most days the world was force to watch as one nation won everything. Not because that country was particularly fast, or smart, or skilled, but because they cheated. The world was losing hope in the Olympic Games and America was determined to rekindle the international fire for competition by taking the Soviets down.

The Olympics had been fairly average and America was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have a chance to prove himself, when on February 22 the on the ice of the Olympic Fieldhouse U.S. really got a chance to shine. At the first period the Soviets and the U.S. were neck and neck with two points each. The second period the Soviets were barely able to gain a one point lead. But in the last period, when every other team that the Soviets had ever played against faltered, the American's pushed harder than ever. Then the team of young college aged boys broke the hardened Soviet players to score their fifth and wining point.

Winning against Finland and taking the gold had been pretty awesome, but the game which finally allowed him to hold his head high was the one where America sent those Commies packing. Who cares if the Soviets home twice as many metals as he did. America took the gold in hockey and as far as the North America was concerned whoever one hockey won the entire Olympics.

This year thirteen proved to be America's lucky number.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ After the Miracle on Ice hockey game occurred it was pretty clear that the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games would be permanently cemented into the history book as one of the most epic sports events ever, but as far as housing and finances were concerned it was a complete flop. The athlete's dorms were actually designed to become a prison after the games so they were not particularly comfortable. There was a big mix up with ticketing which meant that about half the tickets were never sold. You can still apparently buy some of the never sold tickets in gift shops in Lake Placid. Also, the Lake Placid Games were the first Winter Games ever to be boycotted. The boycotting country was Taiwan over a disagreement the nation had with the IOC. _

_**End Note-**__ Epic Cold War America . Well, now it is time to go back to the real world. _


	15. Winter Olympic Games XIV-Yugoslavia

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone. I think a lot of you will be surprised how hopeful this story is. When I was reading the reporting from the Olympics it was pleasantly positive. It is only the war the followed shortly after that makes it a tragedy. But before we get to the history thank you to Guest, The secret trio, and Daffodil Moon for reviewing the very happy short about America. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympics._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XIV<strong>__ – Sarajevo, Yugoslavia_

As far as nations went Yugoslavia was young. Even when compared with the United States she was an infant, still she always tried to hold her head high. She had only been born in 1918, a result of the complicated politics of WWI. When WWII had hit Europe she had sided with the Axis in the hope that it a treaty with Germany would shelter her nation from the war. Instead Yugoslavia's alliance with the Germany had been ignored and they were invaded by Axis forces on the 6 of April 1941.

What followed was nearly five years of war as the people of Yugoslavia attempted to dispel their former allies from their borders. The aftermath had been devastating. One million of her people had been murdered; many of the others were forced to alter their faith or ethnic identity in order to survive. By the time the second Great War had ended it was clear that Yugoslavia was on its last leg and unable to rebuild itself alone. So she had turned to the only nation who had express any sympathy to the terror her nation had faced for help rebuilding. She begged for the Soviet Union's aid and in exchange for becoming a communist nation they freely gave it.

Life allied with the Soviet Union was not easy. Russia had very strict views about everything from religion to how you should dress. And then there was the fact that he was incredibly corrupt. Yugoslavia had corruption issues, what country didn't, but she at least admitted the problem. Luckily years in recent years the strangle hold of the distrust which had separated the democratic West from the communist East had loosened. For the first time in decades her nation was allowed to look outward, to dream of something outside of the Soviet Union itself.

WWII may have broken Yugoslavia and communism may have isolated it from the rest of the world, but neither had defeated her country. Her people had a strong will to live. They wanted to exist, to compete on a world state. That is why her nation had applied for the Olympics. Still, she had never expected to actually be selected to host the fourteenth Winter Olympic Games. She never expected to be considered an equal to great nations such as Japan and Sweden.

When she finally got her chance to host, the whole world saw her shine. They saw a different type of communism. One where people were allowed to keep their own religious belief and their own culture, one where people could strive to achieve their dreams. Many of world's country had been genuinely surprised that Yugoslavia was just copying the strict interpretation of communism followed by China or the greater Soviet Union. They spoke of the possibility of treaties and possibility of trading partnerships. America and Canada had even invited her for dinner with their nation's officials. She had been too shy to accept, but she was still touched by the West's openness.

In the end the Fourteenth Winter Olympic Games showed the world that all peoples, regardless of government, ethnic history, faith, or wealth, could get along, if only for a little while. It gave Yugoslavia hope that the world might someday find peace. It gave her hope that this festering Cold War might someday end.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ If you want your day to stay on a happy not, don't continue reading. If you want to know why people consider the fourteenth Winter Olympics to be so depressing please continue. Okay, everyone who is still with me here is the rest of the story. The Winter Olympics was basically the last united act of Yugoslavia. Even before they were hosted the country was starting to break apart. Within three years the region was swallowed by civil war. It was a war that was only intensified as the Soviet Union started to crumble all around it. Divided by religious and cultural differences, the country began to splinter apart. Yugoslavia formally disappeared in 1995, but conflict has continued to the present day. There are few places that sum up the broken dreams of a lost country better than the Olympic Park in former Yugoslavia. Many of the monuments still stand, but they are pockmarked by guns and bombs, abandoned for time and history to overtake them._

_**End Note-**__ Well, on to the next Olympics. _


	16. Winter Olympic Games XV-Canada

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone, a mostly happy chapter today. But before that thanks to mofalle, Alberta, The secret trio, and Daffodil Moon for being wonderful readers and leaving reviews. Your feedback is very helpful._

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own the Hetalia nor do I own the winter Olympic Games…or Canada._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XV<strong>__ – Calgary, Canada_

It was a competition of mishaps. Some were good and some were bad, but in the end it was the irregularities that made these Olympics interesting.

Perhaps thing that most surprised the world was just how enthusiastic the people of Canada were about the Olympics. They citizens kept on upping the budget in order to build facilities large enough to hold the large amounts of local spectators. In the end 1.4 million tickets were sold with over 80% going to local Canadians. That meant more people attended the Calgary games then the three prior games combined. Even better with Olympic tickets costing as low as 15 dollars for the cheap seats, it meant the attending the Olympics was no longer something simply for the rich or famous, but something that the masses were encouraged to enjoy.

The people of Canada also won the hearts of many of the athletes. They didn't really care what country that the athletes were from the Canadians were always in the stands cheering their hearts out and pushing them to try to capture the gold. Then there was the fact that most of the people helping to setup and clean up the Olympic venues were volunteers. They ranged from doctors and lawyers to school aged children, each giving of their time to help the community achieve a perfect Olympic game.

Still, the thing that truly captured everyone's love was the heroic failures. No one could get enough of the British ski jumper who was built like a rock and came in last in every heat. And who could stop and smile at the thought of three Caribbean nations (Jamaican, the Netherlands Antilles, and the Virgin Islands) competing in the bobsled competition. It didn't matter that all three came in at the back of the pack, after all their countries didn't even have snow. Then there was the man from Guam in the biathlon. He had taken a year off in order to train for the Olympics and had been accepted to represent his country just three days before the Opening Ceremony. He came in dead last, but that didn't matter it was the first time Guam had ever competed in any Olympic games.

Even though most people's failures were born almost as a badge of pride, there were a few tragedies that touched everyone's hearts. The world watched in sympathy and pity as an American speed skater too to the ice only hours after his sister had died from cancer only to crash into the wall in the first quarter of the heat. They would cheer him on yet again four days later as he took the lead in another speed skating, only to watch him stumble and fall once gain. Then on the thirteenth day of the Olympics death struck the ski slopes. In between the Big Slalom events there was collision between two skiers and the Austrian ski team's doctor was knocked under a moving snow groomer. He was crushed and killed instantly, and his death would overshadow the rest of the ski events.

In the end, the Soviet Union and Eastern German would once again dominate the metal count. Canada would come in 13th in the metal count with nothing higher than silver, but to Canada gold metals were not the measure of a successful Olympics. Instead it was the depth of the Olympic spirit saw on the ice and the slopes. By Canada's judgment Calgary had just hosted the best Winter Olympic Games the world had ever seen.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- Or why America's care about the Jamaican bobsled team. After the famous 'Miracle on Ice' game at Lake Placid, the people in the U.S. pretty much loss interest in watching hockey games that didn't involve the U.S. team playing and preferably winning. When they lost pretty early in Calgary the U.S. broadcast networks had to suddenly find a feel good story to help fill the timeslot. They picked to focus the Jamaican Bobsled team as they were entertaining to watch and were also clearly not going kick the American's out of a chance for a metal. They ended up coming in dead last, but they capture the American imagination when they carried their bobsled across the finish line when it broke. Of course it the moment was turned into a movie by Disney (Cool Running, which isn't particularly historical accurate) and has become popular Winter Olympic cultural touchstone in North America. So in short, we like the Jamaican bobsled team because the U.S. lost every hockey game at these Olympics. Don't believe me, look up some of the peer review paper on the subject. Yes there have been scientific papers written about why Americans love the Jamaican bobsled team. _

_**End Note-**__ Who needs gold when you have Canada. _


	17. Winter Olympic Games XVI-France

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone. The Soviet Union has now fallen and a new era of the Olympics has begun. But before we learn who's dreams will be achieved and who's will be shatter it is time for a shout out to the wonderful reviewers. Thank you to Guest, Daffodil Moon, and The secret trio for leaving tasty treats for the author and Canada's adorable polar bear._

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia or the Olympics._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XVI –<strong>__ Albertville, France_

It was strange how quickly the world changed. At the last Olympics it was expected that almost all the metals would go to the Soviet Union, Eastern Germany, and Norway. Everyone knew that Soviet Union and Eastern Germany would always win because they cheated, and that Norway would always dominate the cross-country skiing events because, honestly, have the world was now convinced that their children were born on skis. But now that the Soviet Union had collapse the natural order of the Olympics had been drastically altered.

No longer was the metal count dominated by two countries, instead the top five countries had similar metal counts and twenty nations placed. Sure the Norwegians still took home the top metals in cross-country skiing, but there was dozens of other events that the world could suddenly compete in on a level playing field. Interest in the games suddenly blossomed in countries which had historically only sent a token delegation. For the first time, many of these nations felt they might have the chance to achieve Olympic glory and on the ice, snow, and slopes the drive to push harder and faster was almost palpable.

This was the Olympics where impossible dreams where achieved. A woman from New Zealand took silver in the women's slalom, becoming the first person from the southern hemisphere to will a Winter Olympic gold medal. A 16 year old Finnish ski jumper became the youngest male gold metal Winter Olympian ever. And Japan's figure skating darling became the first woman to land a triple axel in Olympic competition, an achievement which allowed her to be the first Asian to win a metal in the sport.

Sadly pushing the limits of speed and skill was beginning to take its toll on the athletes. After Swiss speed skier was killed in a collision with a snow groomer just hours before the speed ski finals, the IOC had to finally acknowledge that snow sports were often far more dangerous than their summer counter parts. Still, without risk there would be no reward and no Olympic dream would ever be captured without the blood, sweat, pain, and tears of personal sacrifice.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ The 1992 Olympics was a transition period between the older Soviet dominated era to one with a more even distribution of metals. Perhaps most visible sign of this was how the former Soviet Union nations competed. The Baltic States quickly organized their own teams and competed independently, while many of the more Slavic nations chose to compete together as a Unified Team under the Olympic flag. Germany would compete as one nation for the first time under unification. This would also be Yugoslavia's last Olympic appearance as UN sanctions and later the nations collapse would prevent it from participating in any future Winter or Summer games. _

_**End Note-**__ Ski ballet anyone? Anyone who gets that reference gets extra brownie points. _


	18. Winter Olympic Games XVII-Norway

_**Author's Note**__-Hey everyone, while France was a happy game the War in Bosnia makes this one a downer. Still, there was some pretty touching moments. Before we get to the story though thank you to Guest, Guest, and The secret trio. I am glad that these chapters are starting to bring back pleasant memories. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympics._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XVII –<strong>__ Lillehammer, Norway_

It was proving to be one of the longest sieges in the history of modern warfare. I had already dragged on for two long years and it looked like it would go long into the future. Still, under normal circumstances the world would watch as the terror unfolded and a nation imploded, but this year everyone felt like they had a personal connection to the raging battle. This was because country that was falling apart Yugoslavia and the city under siege was Sarajevo, the host of the Fourteen Winter Olympic Games.

The imagines of the War in Bosnia were becoming so horrific that the U.N had agreed last month that the world had to take action to try to curb the violence, especially against the civilian population. The North American council of NATO had been called on to intervene, and when one of the bloodiest massacres so far happened in war America sent in planes to try to bomb both armies into a stalemate. Days later the U.N. was able to negotiate a loose, uneasy truce between the two sides. The first Olympic Truce ever head for a Winter Game.

This was the back drop that the Seventeenth Winter Games Opening began. But Norway, the country that had been selected to host the Nobel Peace Prize, could never turn a blind eye to the suffering of a fellow nation. How could anyone ignore the suffering of a nation that was currently so broken that it was forced to use its some of its Olympic venues as cemeteries? Yet, the strict IOC rules stated he wasn't allowed to formally acknowledge what was going on. There would be no formal tributes, no moments of silence. Even though everyone's TV networks would be flipping between imagines of the war and the Olympics, in Lillehammer they were forced to pretend that all was right in the world. With no other choice, Norway tried to keep everyone happy and distracted with the spectacle of the games. He was helped by the shear drama of the games, which mostly centered around the ice.

First of all there was the soap opera drama of the U.S. figure skating team. In the weeks leading up to the games a skater had been attacked and injured by the ex-husband of a fellow skater on the team. When it became clear that the skater had apparently arranged for her ex to take out her competitor, the IOC tried to get her removed from the U.S. team, only to be threatened by legal action. Both skaters would end up competing, and which Norway admitted, drastically drove up the viewership in the event. Everyone wanted to see turn the saga would take next.

Then there were the hockey finals. Both North America and Scandinavia had stayed on the edge of their seats during hockey shoot out between Canada and Sweden. It would take six shots until the Canadian goalie finally slipped up and the Swedes took the gold leaving the Canadian team with silver.

The Norwegians had a nearly clean sweep of the cross-country event, while Germany did well in Bobsledding. Italy rocked the downhill events, while Japan surprised everyone taking gold in the Nordic Combined. From Australia taking home his first Olympic metal ever, to the sight of Belarus glaring at Canada during the women's Biathlon, there was so much action going on every once in a while Norway could let current world events slip from his mind for a few moments…then something, like the way England's favorite ice dancing pairs managed to sneak in a tribute by dancing the same routine they had performed in Sarajevo, would jolt him back to reality.

By the end of the games, Norway could take it no more. He could not ignore the fact that a nation he knew was dying, that people who had kindly hosted his athletes not too long ago were now being murdered in the streets. He no longer cared what the IOC thought or did; he was not going find a way to give tribute. As guest filed into Closing Ceremony, Norway helped to pass out a flashlight with the words 'Remember Sarajevo' inscribed in them. Norway might not be able to stop the bloody battle that was tearing apart his fellow Winter Olympic Host, he may never be allowed to voice his sympathy, but he could show his solidarity.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- The International Olympic Committee has very strict view about tributes at the Olympics Games. Their standing policy is that no tributes to those who have died, a national cause, or international politics should ever be made during the Olympic Games as the event should purely a celebration. The aftermath of this policy could actually be seen in could be seen at the Sochi Games when the IOC officially reprimanded both the Canadian and Norwegian teams for wearing stickers or black armbands in honor of members of their teams that died before the competition. They were threatened removal from the games if they did not remove the symbols as it was argued that the act could be viewed as political. _

_The IOC has sanctioned one notable exception to their no tribute rule. That was during the Opening Ceremony of the Salt Lake Winter Games when an American Flag pulled from the rubble of the Twin Towers was presented when the host nation's national anthem was sung. The host city had pushed to be allowed to perform the tribute for over three months and was granted approval less than five hours before the ceremony opened. For a healing nation it was considered to be a particularly emotional moment, but some international critics indicated the felt that the tribute was inappropriate, too nationalistic, and should not have been included. As a result many feel that the Salt Lake Games will remain the only Winter Games with a formal, sanctioned tribute.(P.S. If you want to read more about the Salt Lake Game tribute you can in a story a wrote a few years ago called Five Planes. The chapter you want is number 13, entitled The Flag Still Flies.)  
><em>

_**End Note-**__ So we are now entering the era of Olympics that majority of the readers actually remember. If you have any personal connections or particularly fond memories about these Winter Games, please feel free to share them. _


	19. Winter Olympic Games XVIII-Japan

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone, when we watch the Olympic Games we often only see one side of the story. This was particularly true at the Nagano, Japan Winter Games in 1998. In the U.S. we saw a perfectly scripted event. On the ground, the story was a little different. But first a quick thanks to Daffodil Moon, The secret trio, and Guest for leaving reviews. I agree with you, Norway did rock. _

_**Disclaimer-**__I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympics, but I did have the flu last week._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XVIII<strong>__ – Nagano, Japan_

Perched high in the mountains of Japan sat a city guarded by famous Buddhist Temple, graced by bountiful snow, and blessed by a bright winter sun. In Japan's opinion the small city of Nagano had all the qualities to produce an extraordinary Winter Olympics, and luckily the International Olympic Committee had also approved.

The nation had done everything in its power to insure that everything ran completely smooth. The site had been blessed by many faiths, fastest and best possible infrastructure had been put in place, and the brightest of Japan's students had been brought in to help provide translation for their many foreign guests. As the days to the Opening Ceremony ticked down the city was transformed into place of sophisticated Zen like beauty. For a few short weeks Japan actually dared to hope that he might be able to hold the perfect Olympics, but then the unexpected occurred…the Beijing Flu came to Japan.

Normally Japan's strict code of hygiene protected him from the worst of the seasonal disease, but this the mild variant and unusually contagious strain was spreading like wild fire through the densely populated island nation. In an attempt to keep the Olympic communities safe from the illness all venues were heavily cleaned and disinfected between events and spectators who showed signs of illness were encouraged not to attend. For the first week it seemed that things were working. Then, at the beginning of the second week the flu hit the Olympic Village.

It is challenging to meet the needs of the Olympic Village under the best of circumstances. You have a microcosm of all of the world's major religions, food allergies, diets, and customs all stuffed into the size of the average university campus. Making sure that everything one had enough of whatever they were allowed to eat was normally an uphill battle. Figuring out how to produce culturally appropriate comfort food for athletes fighting the fever and chills was proving to be nearly impossible.

If it would have been up to Japan, he would have quarantined the affected areas of the Olympic Village in order to stop the spread of the flu. He had even brought up the idea at an emergency meeting, but it was instantly shot down by China who insisted that Japan had the athletes in the Olympic Village on purpose to give the Japanese athletes a better chance at gold…even though several members of the host nation's team were currently bedridden. In the end everyone agreed that the flu epidemic would be chalked up to an Act of God, but they also agreed that any athlete who felt well enough to compete would be allowed to.

A few athletes were in bad enough shape that it was impossible for them to compete, but the majority just soldiered on through their symptoms. Many of them preformed so well on the ice and snow that most of the world didn't even know that they were sick. That was until someone went to check up on them in the Olympic Village and saw just how many people were crashed the beds and couches in the middle of the day or witnessed just how many athletes were eating chicken soup for every meal.

In the long term, Japan was sure he was going to have many fond memories of hosting this Olympic Games, but for now he kind of wish that they would hurry up and be over with so he could crawl into his futon and sleep off this nasty epidemic. That said, he was going to keep is cool, through the most amazing party possible, and never let the world know just how crummy he felt.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__When I was doing the research for this chapter I was kind of surprised just how much how big of an impact that the flu had on this Olympics. The best estimates that I could find were that approximant ten percent Olympic athletes caught the flu from the games, with representatives from the Americas, Africa, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific being the most affected as this particular strain of flu had not reached that population yet. Out of these countries the Canadian team was considered to be the heaviest hit with close to 30% of the team either getting sick at the games or shortly after._

_This brings up the question, why do most of us not remember this? The answer is the flu vaccine. In the United States and Great Britain all citizens attending the Olympics were encouraged to get the flu vaccine prior to attending and all athletes were required to have the shot. This meant the America and British teams did not get sick at competition and thus the ongoing flu epidemic was not heavily reported in the majority of English speaking media. The illness rate between the Canadian and American teams was so significant that the IOC now requires all athletes participating in the Olympics to have flu vaccinations in order to prevent a future Olympic Flu epidemic. _

_**End Note-**__ Well, I bet that was a side of the Olympics you hadn't heard about before. Now that I have already done all of the hard research I think will be keeping the references on file so that I can rewrite the Wikipedia article on the 1998 Olympic Flu Epidemic. The current article is little more than a stub. _


	20. Winter Olympic Games XIX-America

_**Author's Note**__- Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't been on for a bit. I am a member of an organization called Civil Air Patrol and recent events have been keeping me very busy. Also, this chapter focuses more on pregame stuff mostly because my story Five Planes has already covered the games in detail. Well, enough of that talking about my own life. Thank you to you to The secret trio, Daffodil Moon, and guest for kindly leaving reviews. _

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympic Games._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XIX<strong>__ – Salt Lake City, United States_

For the first time in America's life, the thought of hosting the Olympics was triggering nightmares. In the over a hundred years of Olympic Games the events themselves had been relatively free of violence. So far no act of terrorism had tainted the Winter Olympics, but two evil acts had been perpetrated at the summer games.

One of those acts had been the brutal murder of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic Team at the Munich Games; the other act had been the bombing of the Atlanta Games which left 2 dead and 111 wounded. Justice had yet to be served in either case. The three surviving terrorists from the Munich Massacre had been released in trade for a hijacked plane full of hostages and had disappeared into the Middle East. The perpetrator or perpetrators of Atlanta Olympic bombing where still at large, a fact that had made America nervous about hosting again.

He had just gotten his courage back and bid to host again, then September 11th happened. Now, only three months after the worst terrorist attack in world history, America was hosting the Olympics again and he was terrified that a second game that he would host would be devastated or even have to be cancelled due to an act of terrorism at one of the events.

America was going to do everything in his power to prevent the terrorist from winning. He was going to do everything in his power to keep fear and murder from ever tainting the winter Olympics. It didn't matter how much money it would take, how many soldiers in the streets, metal detectors at the venues, or planes in the sky, he was going to keep the Salt Lake Winter Games safe.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ Okay first thing first, as everyone knows the Salt Lake Games was not the victim of terrorism. That is something that everyone is very grateful for. Also, the other big black mark against the Salt Lake Games been significantly softened. As a new International Olympic Committee came in and started to try to understand the corruption of the past they discovered that both the bribery of the Olympic selection committee and countries exchanging votes as diplomatic currency were common place throughout the modern Olympics' history. So yes there was corruption at the Salt Lake Games but it was about average…which is kind of a sad thought._

_On another note, the Salt Lake Games has officially been ranked has most financially successful winter games ever held. As of the end of 2013 the increased tourism, facilities use, and merchandise directly relating to hosting the Olympic Games has exceeded 1 billion dollars. Currently large chunk of that change is being used to upgrade the Olympic Venues in order allow Salt Lake to fulfill its responsibility as the official Winter Olympic host city back up. Which means that if a host city has to drop out at the last minute due to natural disaster, war, or other disaster, the games will still go on. _

_**End Note**__- Well on to Italy and of course all the fun that brings. _


	21. Winter Olympic Games XX-Italy

_**Author's Note-**__ I may or may not have been channeling Italy when writing this chapter. It is rather…bubbly…Yeah, bubbly is the term that I am looking for. Once again I will remind you that I can only read English and so all of my sources were in English. It turns out the BBC was obsessed about North America's overall interest in the games so that will play heavily in the chapter. But before was get to that thank you to The secret trio, Daffodil Moon, Guest, and Guest for being super awesome reviewers. _

_**Disclaimer**__- I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympics or women's hockey._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XX -<strong>__ Turin, Italy_

It was very difficult for Northern Italy to keep a straight face even under the worst of circumstances, but when he was hosting such an overwhelmingly successful Winter Olympic Games it was impossible for the nation to lose the grin that was now plastered across his face. When the personification of the host nation looked at the reactions of the nations he could clearly see that the vast majority of them were very happy…and the happier his guest got the bubblier Italy got.

By midway through the second week, Northern Italy had turned into a bouncing bundle of movement that would spontaneously start sobbing for joy at some of the events and randomly hug people. Over all, people were in a good enough mood to put up with his behavior. Yes, Austria was kind of mad for a while about the Italian Police raiding the Austrian team's quarters looking for illegal drugs, but honestly who could stay mad for long when you were attending the Olympics. Especially when the Olympics were being held in such a beautiful places as Turin, Italy. Clearly, this place was where God had modeled heaven after and Italy was sure that he could convince the Pope to agree with him if he rambled enough.

The Twenty Winter Olympic Games were a smashing success. There was food, there was music, there was pretty women, Italy had done his best to make sure that the event went off perfectly. His plan appeared to have worked. In fact, the only countries that seemed to not be having fun at the games were the U.S. and Canada. The North American twins seemed, well the only word that Italy could think of was bored. America was so paranoid about security that he failed to enjoy the festivities of the games preferring to constantly over his shoulder. The superpower was so focused on possible threats he was completely incapable of enjoying himself, which kind of made Italy sad for him. But Italy couldn't stay sad for long because he was hosting the most awesome Winter Olympic Games ever….

Anyway, Canada's boredom, on the other hand, seemed to be driving by that nation's ability to both overwhelmingly over perform and under perform at the same Olympic venues. The best example of this skill could be seen in hockey. In the Men's event the normally internationally ranked team was quickly knocked out of the running, while the Women's team so dominated everyone else that there first game against Italy was the most lopsided match in Olympic History. Match after match the women's team scored in the double digits while their opponents were lucky to score one or two points. In the end the Canadian women's hockey team was undefeated and most people didn't even bother attending the gold metal game because the outcome against Sweden was already certain.

Well no one could please everyone, Italy had to admit himself. In catering this Olympic to Europe's sensibilities he was bound to lose a few nations interests. You couldn't have hard feeling about a couple of countries who were so young and without tastes that they actually thought that monstrosity they were feeding their athletes was actually a pizza. The was clearly only one solution to the problem, he was going to have to arrange for Germany to consume large quantities of beer so that he would agree to make Italian food and then invite the North American's over to the Italian Villa for a proper pizza party to celebrate the closing ceremony.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note-<strong>__ As kind of mentioned in the story, the Italy Turin Winter Olympics was considered to be a particularly European games. It had one of the highest EU TV viewership of any winter sporting event. That said there was really low numbers of butts in the seats at many of the events. Even the hockey and ice skating events had empty seats by the end of the competition because people purchased the tickets and then didn't bother to show up. From many accounts it was pretty strange to be competing in major events in half empty stadiums. _

_**End Note-**__Well we are drawing close to the end. Only a few more Winter Olympics to go…_


	22. Winter Olympic Games XXI-Canada

_**Author's Note-**__ To be honest, the Vancouver was one of my favorite games to watch, though this might have been the fact I was able to watch it in two languages that I understood. If you think watching hockey in English is intense, try watching it in Inupiat. Okay, onto the reviewers. Thank you to Guest, Guest, The secret trio, and Daffodil Moon. I am glad that Italy entertained you._

_**Disclaimer-**__ I do not happen to own Hetalia or the Winter Olympic Games._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XXI<strong>__ – Vancouver, Canada_

The twenty-first would be unique among Winter Olympic Games. It was going to be held in Vancouver, the largest city ever to host one of these games. Then there was both Continental U.S. and Alaska's involvement when it came to security, with leaved the responsibilities of protecting from possible attack onto the entire continent. Unfortunately, while having America looking outward might prevent someone from attacking Canada and his Olympics from the air or the sea it didn't solve the Olympics from being derailed from violence from within…which brought up a uniquely Canadian problem, rioting.

It was not uncommon for people around the world to riot for a whole host of reasons. They might do it for a political reason, for religious reasons, or for sport, but they tended to have some rhyme or reason to them. That had never been the case with the good old Canadian hockey riot. While some nations might riot to celebrate their favorite team winning or us it to release frustration after their team lost, Canadians really would occasionally riot regardless of the end score. Within Canada few cities had a worse reputation for massive riots than Vancouver.

For the first time in Olympic history, a nation had to come up with an official plan on how to keep his own people calm during the winter games. Instead of designing facilities to encourage the crowd to become more drawn into the intensity of the Olympic moments, the buildings especially the ones that were assigned to be used for the hockey events were designed to mute the audiences emotion. Extra police were to be brought in to allow more people to keep an eye the audience at the games and alcohol consumption was going to be strictly monitored.

Finally after all of these modifications had been made to the traditional Olympic Game template the IOC gave the green light and Canada prepared to bask in the international spotlight. Then only days before the Olympics actually began the full chaos that usually heralded the games came crashing down on the Northern nation. First, the snow refused to fall. Canada was luckily a very large country with many mountain ranges so he was able to ship in snow from else ware, but not without gaining the attention of the international press. Then tragedy struck. An athlete died while training for the lunge, days before the competition the track had to be modified to protect athlete's safety.

Through all of this, Canada learned that while the Olympic were designed to push the human body to the very limit. Sometimes it was not wise for the host to push themselves to the edge of what was possible. Unfortunately he had learned too late that it was more important to insure safety rather than provide the chance for an allusive world record.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- Culturally, the Vancouver Games were a major turning point in Canadian history. Throughout much of the last hundred the Canada's high arctic people often suffered under national policies which treated them like third class citizens. Like the First Nation people found further south, they were often refused the right to vote and self govern. Many were forced relocated and were referred to by numbers in the government archives instead of by name. This got particularly bad during the Cold War when people were force relocated to high arctic environments they were unprepared for and not allowed to even visit family farther south for almost a decade. At the close of the Cold War the national philosophy towards high arctic people's rights changed significantly. The Territory of Nunavut was created to allow more self governance. The Vancouver Olympics acknowledged the growing role of arctic peoples on the national dialog in a few ways. The first was the fact that the Olympic logo an Inukshuk named Ilanaaq was used. The second was the fact that the CBC broadcast the major Olympic events in the major dialects of the far north for the very first time._

_**End Note-**__ You have to love Canada. _


	23. Winter Olympic Games XXII-Russia

_**Author's Note-**__ Hey everyone, this chapter turned out to be a bit of sticky one. So much of the history surrounding is still unfolding and your perspective is driven by where you get your news. Hopefully reading this piece will help you to gain a better handle on current world politics. Now before we shift our attention to the last chapter before a 4 year hiatus, I would like to thank Daffodil Moon, the secret trio, and Michigan for leaving reviews for the last chapter. I would also like to thank all of the readers out there across the world. I hope that this series of shorts helped you gain a better understanding and love for the Winter Olympics. Lastly, if you see any major errors in any of the chapters please let me know. I would like to get those mistakes changed so that it is easier for everyone to enjoy the stories. Thanks again._

_**Disclaimer**__-I do not own Hetalia or the Winter Olympics. Also there are some terms, such as Nazi that will be used in this post. I am lifting these terms directly from the Russia press and political commentaries and I totally disagree with their current usage._

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><p><em><strong>Winter Olympic Games XXII –<strong>__ Sochi, Russia_

Russia was rising again. Under Putin the Russian Federation was beginning to free itself from the shackles imposed on it by the treaties of the 1990's and becoming a nation that the world could once again fear and respect. It was time for him to rise from the shadows and economic pitfalls that had caused his nation to stagnate for two long decades and regain his seat as a superpower…and what better way to do this than to host the Winter Olympic Games.

Russia had long mourned the fact that the Soviet Union had fallen before he had had the chance to fully show his national supremacy by hosting a Winter Olympic Games, so when Sochi as selected to host the Twenty-second Game it was quickly decided that no expense would be spared. Russia wasn't going to just build a spectacular Olympic park he was going build a spectacular resort city. He was not only going to host a Winter Olympic games, he was going to do it in the subtropics.

From the beginning there were people who doubted, men and women that didn't understand the sheer power of Russia's power and dream. When he had announced his 12 billion American dollar budget, the west had called the current venture ego games. Which of course they were, any one daring enough to host the largest Winter Olympics yet had to have an ego to match. When the games went massively over budget and the costs soared to over 51 billion dollars, the west had made a fuss about the fact that the Sochi Games cost more than all the previous Winter Games combined and even exceeded the price tag China had spent on the Beijing Games. Russia really couldn't see what the fuss was about. Of course Russia would spend more than China, he was better than China.

There were critics on the inside as well. There were the occasional protesters who complained about the high levels of corruption and all of the government officials who were using the Games as an excuse to line their own pockets with tax payer money, but these foolish citizens clearly didn't understand how Olympic Games work. Of course there would be corruption. Any big project, any were in the world had corruption issues, just look at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. As to the fact that Russia bulldozed nearly all of Sochi's landmarks and built structures which some of the local citizens considered to be unsound, they were just selfish people who were not willing to acknowledge all the wonderful new developments their country had graced them with. When the Olympic Games were over people would finally understand just how superior Russia and its government truly were.

Yet by even before the Olympic Games were completed they were rapidly becoming overshadowed by the fact that parts of Ukraine had finally come to their senses and were trying to escape their Nazi overlords in Kiev. It was a situation that was only becoming worse because America and his EU lap dogs stirring up protests with false promises. Russia couldn't not understand why American superpower was so bent on forcing Ukraine to tear itself apart, instead of letting it all peacefully become one with Russia once again. Russia was sure that the history books would side with him, and expose America for the pigheaded, whiny child that he was.

As for what the true legacy of the Sochi Winter Olympics, that was still to be seen.

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><p><em><strong>Historical Note<strong>__- As you can tell, in the chapter I really followed the Russian political and media reports. That opinion has really not been followed by the rest of the world. The pattern of invasion that was used in the Crimean region is very similar to the attempts by Russia to gain greater control of areas of Georgia and Moldavia. Unfortunately the Russian stance on Crimean has probably meant that all the soft power that the Russian Federation was attempting to purchase by hosting the winter games went down the drain. Add the fact that these games were plagued with chronic corruption and improper construction techniques means that much of the infrastructure will probably crumble within the decade. In short, many international Olympic analysts are predicting that Sochi will guarantee that Russia will not host another winter games any time soon and that twenty-second Winter Olympic Games will soon be considered the biggest Olympic disaster ever. _

_**End Note**__- Well, now it is time for this story to go on hiatus for another 4 years, so will leave you with a question…Would you all be interested in having me write a similar collection of stories for the Summer or Paralympics games? Also, would it be helpful if I tried to put together a piece about history of Crimea and how that history is affecting the current situation? _


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